This disclosure generally relates to artificial fishing lures. More specifically, this disclosure relates to an improved cover for the weighted head of a pre-existing jig-type fishing lure, wherein the improved cover more completely conceals the weighted head while simultaneously enabling the jig-type lure to exhibit new types of fish-attracting behavior.
Jig-type fishing lures comprise a weighted head, often made of lead or a similarly dense metal, rigidly coupled to a hook. A fishing line is tied to the hook eyelet, which fully or partially protrudes from the weighted head. A less common jig-type lure pivotally—rather than rigidly—couples the hook to the weighted head through a small looped wire form member protruding from generally opposite ends of the weighted head. Many pre-existing jig-type lures also commonly include protrusions from the generally top portion of the weighted head in the form of hook guards, weed guards, or coil spring-type soft body mounts. Lastly, a pre-existing soft body member, or other form of bait, is typically mounted onto the hook shank or coil spring-type mount to help conceal the hook and further attract fish.
Jig-type lures are mostly fished slowly along the bottom underwater surface in an effort to tempt nearby fish, as compared to common “reaction-type” lures which require a faster retrieval in order to enable their attractive behavior, such as crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits. As a result, the jig-type lure is typically evaluated much longer by a hovering fish before the fish chooses either to pick up the lure or swim away. Thus, it is crucial that the overall visual appearance and tactile feedback of a jig-type lure to be as lifelike as possible in order that a committed fish not quickly lose interest and/or immediately spit out the lure.
Prior art relies on an elongated aperture of the elastomeric membrane for stretching the membrane around a weighted head of a pre-existing jig-type lure. However, the primary disadvantage of such a cover is that as the prior-art cover stretches to envelop most of the weighted head, the length and width of the elongated aperture increase due to the elastic stretching of the membrane. Because of this stretching effect, prior-art improved covers still undesirably leave a significant amount of the underlying weighted head surface exposed. If this exposed weighted head surface of the pre-existing jig lure were an unappealing color that did not naturally match the color of the attached cover, or if a fish were to bite down on this remaining exposed hard surface, then the fish would immediately recognize the lure as artificial and reject the lure. Compared to prior art, the improved cover described herein conceals a greater amount of the weighted head, which enables a pre-existing jig-type lure to both look and feel more lifelike.
Objects and advantages of the improved cover are as follows:
                1. It is an object of the improved cover to conceal a greater amount of the surface of the weighted head of a pre-existing jig-type lure, as compared to prior art.        2. It is an object of the improved cover to provide a means for a pre-existing jig-type lure to exhibit new types of fish-attracting behavior through a desirable bend in the attached fishing line at a predetermined pivot point along the surface of the cover, while simultaneously protecting the fishing line knot.        3. It is an object of the improved cover to provide a means for a pre-existing jig-type lure to be able to emit fish-attracting sounds while the pre-existing jig-type lure itself remains stationary.        4. It is an object of the improved cover to provide a means for a pre-existing jig-type lure to exhibit an inchworm-type expansion and contraction motion during retrieval.        5. It is an object of the improved cover to enable the hook of a pre-existing jig-type lure to exhibit a generally swaying or undulating-type behavior when the attached fishing line is twitched.        6. It is an object of the improved cover to provide a means for a pre-existing jig-type lure to exhibit a wobbling motion when the attached fishing line is retrieved at a steady speed.        
In addition, each preferred embodiment of the improved cover disclosed herein can be attached to or removed from the weighted head of a pre-existing jig-type lure without untying or breaking the knot of the attached fishing line. This feature allows and angler to quickly and easily change the cover of a weighted head in response to varying fishing conditions. These and other objects and advantages will become readily apparent upon review of the following specification and drawings.
Drawings - Reference Numerals100pre-existing jig-type lure110hook120weighted head130 hook shank140 hook eyelet150fishing line160hook point170knot180hook guard190 first wire form eyelet200second wire form eyelet210 coil spring-type mount220 cover230elastomeric membrane240 first aperture250 substantially exposed portion260 second aperture270 small cavity280fish-attracting element290 pair of holes300 flap element310folding direction320 pivot point330 forward direction340rocking direction350 undulating direction360first attachment direction370second attachment direction380slotted portion390 rattle chamber400rattle member410solid weight420concave surface430 thin portion440horizontal plane